Your State-by-State Guide to Getting a Builders' Licence in Australia

In Australia, each state has different requirements for builders looking to get licensed. These can range from education and experience to a number of references and financial resources.

It’s important that you understand what requirements you need to meet before you commit to the process of getting a builders licence. Knowing what’s required of you will save you time and frustration in the long run.

To help you with this, we’ve compiled a rough guide to each state’s requirements for getting a builders’ licence and links to further information.

Please note: This information is subject to change. Be sure to check with the regulating bodies, listed below, for the most up-to-date requirements.

NSW Builders Licence

Requirements to get your licence

Experience

You must have at least 2 years’ relevant industry experience working in a wide range of building construction work. Also, your experience must run across all stages of construction.

You can gain these 2 years’ experience:

As an employee under the supervision of a licensed builder

As a sub-contractor who is appointed the supervisor of a (company or partnership class) Contractor Licence. Here, your experience will be officially acknowledged only if you are contracted to work for a licensed builder.

A sub-contractor who holds an Endorsed (individual class) Contractor Licence. Here, your experience will be officially acknowledged only if you are contracted to work for a licensed builder.

Your experience, whether as an employee or as a sub-contractor, must be paid. Unpaid work will not be counted as “experience” and cannot be used to support your application.

You don’t need to have done the 2 years’ experience all in one chunk. If you had a few months in between jobs, that’s fine. However, you need to prove you have 2 years’ full-time equivalent experience over a maximum of 10 years (from the date of application).

The licensed builder/s who provide references for your experience must have held a Qualified Supervisor Certificate or Individual Contractor Licence (Q) in the class of General Building Work issued by NSW Fair Trading during the period of time of your stated experience.

WA Builders Licence

Again, as with other states, WA has a number of licence types. The main two are:

Licensed Building Practitioner

Practitioner registration is for individuals. It allows a person to be the nominated supervisor of a registered building contractor and to use the title 'registered building practitioner'. A practitioner may not provide building services directly to another person.

Licensed Building Contractor

Contractor registration is for individuals, partnerships and companies that intend to trade as builders.

Within these categories, there are a number of sub-categories of licence type. Be sure to investigate the best category to match what you are wanting to use your licence for, before you apply.

To apply for either licence type, generally, you will need:

Experience (between 5 – 7 years, depending on licence sub-type).

Formal qualifications related to the class of licence you are going for.

References.

Must not have been disqualified from practising trade, occupation or business in Australia.

Within those licenses, you will need to select which building and construction speciality you will operate under. Each speciality will require different levels of experience as well as other requirements.

Generally, you will need:

Experience (number of years will depend on licence type).

A national police check.

To demonstrate possession of sufficient financial resources (will depend on which licence, but generally ranges between $10,000 in net assets to $100,000 in net assets).

Must not have been disqualified from practising trade, occupation or business in Australia.

ACT Builders Licence

There are four types of builders licence classes in the ACT: A, B, C and D.

Class A Builder (unlimited)

Class B Builder (medium rise)

Class C Builder (low rise/residential)

Class D Builder

Each licence class allows the holder to complete different types of building work. Find out more about the ACT builders licence classes here. You must meet a range of different requirements before you can apply for any class of licence.

So there you have it, your guide to licensing in Australia. Open Colleges offers a number of building and construction courses which not only introduce you to the industry but also teach you necessary skills and knowledge to work in the industry, help you get off the tools and meet education components required for licensing in several states.

Want to be a licensed builder, site supervisor or construction manager? Tap into the booming construction industry and learn more about Open Colleges' Building and Construction courses or download your free construction course guide via the form below.

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